FANS on Merseyside and around the world united yesterday to mark what would have been John Lennon's 65th birthday.

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Beatles enthusiasts gathered in Liverpool city centre, where they lit candles around photographs of the late Beatle.

Fans in America echoed the gesture by lighting a single candle at the Dakota Building, Lennon's New York home where he was shot dead by Mark Chapman in 1980.

The singer's widow Yoko Ono took part in a memorial concert in Japan on Friday at the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo, where The Beatles played their first Japanese concert in 1966.

Mathew Street's Cavern Club, where Lennon's career blossomed, opened its doors for free all day. Tributes came from Phil Melia of 60s band The Mojos and performers such as Gary Quinn, Tim Brown and The Beat Beatles, interspersed with talks and footage of the star.

A week-long tribute began at the Beatles statue in Cavern Walks. People laid flowers and messages relating to Lennon's views on world peace.

John James Chambers, of the New Liverpool Beatles Appreciation Society, which organised the tribute, said: "The message we want to get across through the tribute is 'give peace a chance'."

In Washington DC, Lennon's stamp album, which he received as a seven-year-old, was revealed to the public for the first time at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.

Russia paid tribute with the unveiling of a monument to the Beatle near the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. The floating statue, anchored in Lake Utyatskoye, depicts Lennon on board the Yellow Submarine.